


topsy-turvy

by FancifulRivers



Series: warmth [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Magical Dudley Dursley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 12:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13434582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancifulRivers/pseuds/FancifulRivers
Summary: The strange, sneering man wasn't lying when he told Harry he'd be back.He brought reinforcements.





	topsy-turvy

**Author's Note:**

> It might help if you've read the other two stories in this series.

Harry was already locked in his cupboard when he heard the knock at the door. Scrambling to his knees, he peered through a crack in the door the best he could as his uncle creaked up from the sofa and made his way to the door.

"What do you wan-hey, hey, you can't just come in here," his uncle shouted, spit flying from his lips. Harry's heart started thudding very fast and he suddenly felt glad he was locked in the cupboard under the stairs. Who would look here?

"We can and we will," a voice sneered, and it was startlingly familiar. Harry reeled back in shock as he realised it was the sneering man he'd seen the other day, the one he had caught following him and Dudley. Had he followed them all the way  _home_ , too? Oh, Harry was going to be in so much trouble if Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon found that out. He chewed his bottom lip, watching it play out.

"I told  _him_ back when I took the boy in I wanted none of your kind here and I meant it," Aunt Petunia spat. Harry peered closer, noticing the sneering man had brought someone with him. He had a long, white beard and wore the brightest coloured fuchsia trousers Harry had ever seen. His mouth dropped open despite himself. Had the man gotten dressed in the  _dark_ that morning?

"Mum?" Dudley's voice floated downstairs, full of uncertainty, and from his vantage point, Harry could see similar emotions play out across his aunt's face.

"Bring him down," the sneering man said. "It concerns him, too."

"What do  _you_ lot want with my Dudders," Aunt Petunia sneered, but even Harry could see how her lips were trembling.

"Tuney, I have very little patience right about now," the man snapped. Her mouth firmed in a thin line, but she went and brought Dudley down anyway, sleepy-eyed and confused in his superhero pyjamas. It was a testament to how unsettled she must be that she kept her arm firmly around his shoulders.

"Petunia, I'm disappointed in you," the old man said quietly. 

"I don't see why," she sniffed, clutching Uncle Vernon's hand. Harry realised they presented a united front. And he-

Well, he remained locked in the cupboard.

"Who are they, Pet?" Vernon asked. Harry was surprised he hadn't demanded to know sooner. Maybe it was the shock of two complete strangers barging into his house that had momentarily rendered him silent.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and this is my colleague, Severus Snape," the old man said, indicating the sneering man. Harry's mouth dropped open again. Headmaster of  _what_?

"Oh no," Aunt Petunia said, in a very thin voice. "I swore to myself when I took him in, we'd stamp out all that nonsense. You foisted him off on me, you can't make-"

"And yet, for all your protestations, I see no evidence of the boy in question," Dumbledore said mildly, cutting Aunt Petunia off completely. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound managed to come out. "Is he that sound of a sleeper?"

"Oh no, sir, Harry sleeps in the cup-" Dudley's eager over-sharing was promptly cut off by his mother's hand clapping over his mouth.

"The cupboard, perhaps?" Snape's eyes were sharp, too sharp, toward Harry's hiding place, and he found that his breathing suddenly sounded very loud to him.

"Of course not," Petunia tried to say, but Snape had already strode over and pulled out a funny-looking piece of wood. He murmured something under his breath, there was a click, and suddenly Harry found himself staring at the man's shoes.

"So he locked himself in for fun, I presume?" Snape said icily. Harry thought it very prudent to stay there and not say anything.

"He's a foolish boy, playing in there, and the lock sticks sometimes-" Petunia tried, but Harry didn't think it would do any good.

"That's why there's a  _mattress_ in there?" Snape said. "And cleaning supplies. Albus, like I told you, it's a miracle he didn't off himself as a toddler and finish the job the Dark Lord couldn't." Harry stared at him in utter confusion.

"Right," Snape said, shoving a bag at him. "Pack. Whatever you think you'll actually want to keep. Which I presume isn't much, but who knows with children." His upper lip curled.

"Er- what?" Harry asked, flummoxed. "Sir," he hastily tacked on.

"I told you that you'd be seeing me again," Snape said, in what sounded like a patient tone of voice for him. "You can't possibly believe I'd just leave you in this hellhole. I thought Molly was exaggerating but-"

"Molly?" Harry interrupted accidentally. "You mean-"

"Yes," Snape said, giving him a very hard look. "Molly Weasley. Now  _pack_. And hurry up, or you're leaving without anything."

Harry turned to his cupboard, glad he had the excuse of packing up his meagre possessions to hide the grin threatening to bloom across his face. He'd had an amazing time with Molly Weasley and her family for a few days, but he'd never dreamed the woman- the new mittens she'd given him were  _more_ than enough-

"Here," he heard Snape say behind him, and the familiar thwack of a bag. "You're packing, too."

Aunt Petunia's shriek as Dudley was sent up the stairs was music to Harry's ears.


End file.
